Friday, January 24, 2014

Best Days of Our Lives?

I ran into someone that I hadn't seen in a really long time. She said something to the effect of wanting to go back to her High School days.
This is a statement that's not something new to me. I've heard it from many folks. They like to tell High School stories, more than what they've been up to lately. "Hey, remember when...?"

It really got me thinking. I wouldn't go back to those days. I really like being an adult.
Here's why.
When I was in High School, we lived in a very rural area of Alabama. Which is saying something.
There were a set of rules for every day of the week.

1. Sundays. Get up and go to Church. Didn't want to. Had to. Eat lunch, do whatever around the house that Dad or Mom needed to get done. Do homework, or study. Probably go to work.
2. Mondays. Get up and go to school. Probably get picked on by some jackass. Never get noticed by girls, because they all want the jock guys. Most likely go to work, come home, do chores + homework.
3. Tuesdays. Get up and go to school. Probably get picked on by some jackass. Never get noticed by girls, because they all want the jock guys. Most likely go to work, come home, do chores + homework.
4. Wednesdays. Get up and go to school. Probably get picked on by some jackass. Never get noticed by girls, because they all want the jock guys. Most likely go to work, come home, do chores + homework. Go to Wednesday night church.
5. Thursdays. Get up and go to school. Probably get picked on by some jackass. Never get noticed by girls, because they all want the jock guys. Most likely go to work, come home, do chores + homework.
6. Fridays. Get up and go to school. Probably get picked on by some jackass. Never get noticed by girls, because they all want the jock guys. Most likely go to work, come home, get ready to go out for the night.
7. Saturdays. Get up and take care of whatever is needed to be done around the house. Go to work. Try to hang out with friends.

What is there to miss about that? Not having to pay bills? I had to pay for my insurance and car. It must be going to school every day? No, I fucking hated school. There was not one day that I woke up and thought "Today is going to be fucking rad." To me, it was an endurance test to get out, go to college and be on my own. I like setting my own rules. Which is shown in the regular now as an adult schedule below.

1. Sundays. Get up. Maybe make a cup of coffee. Play video games for 2-4 hours, or until Kell wakes up. We discuss what we want to do for the day. Maybe its absofuckinglutely nothing but Netflix binge watching. Maybe its go to a store that we need something. Sometimes, its go get something to eat. Which is kind of our favorite, because we get to walk past all the church going people waiting for a table, while we go sit right at the bar. Eat, have a beer, and walk out only to see those folks still waiting.
2. Mondays. Get up, let June out, feed her and Angus. Go to work. Get off, come home, play video games while Kell is watching something on Netflix. We cook dinner, eat and watch TV together until its bed time.
3. Tuesdays. Get up, let June out, feed her and Angus. Go to work. Get off, come home, play video games while Kell is watching something on Netflix. We cook dinner, eat and watch TV together until its bed time.
4. Wednesdays. Get up, let June out, feed her and Angus. Go to work. Get off, go to the grocery store, come home, play video games while Kell is watching something on Netflix. We cook dinner, eat and watch TV together until its bed time.
5. Thursdays. Get up, let June out, feed her and Angus. Go to work. Get off, come home, play video games while Kell is watching something on Netflix. We cook dinner, eat and watch TV together until its bed time.
6. Fridays. Get up, let June out, feed her and Angus. Go to work. Get off, maybe go to happy hour. If its the summer time, probably sit on the front porch, while listening to music, and drinking cocktails. In most cases, meeting up with friends later.
7. Saturdays. Get up, play video games for a little while, go to Jack-O-Lanter farms and get our produce for the week, then Pegasus Records to pick up my weekly comics and maybe a record or two. Decide that we want lunch. Go have lunch, if its at OTR or the Pie Factory, lunch can turn into a few hours of beer drinking.
Start to figure out the evening. Maybe take a nap. Or maybe I get day drunk and make bad decisions while playing Skyrim. Probably hang out with friends.

Now, there are similarities. There's a weekly structure of School vs Work. But I don't hate work. In a lot of cases, I quite like it a bit. I was able to choose my profession. I have a window office, and maybe even a little respect.
As an adult, we have the option to go to ComicCon for the weekend, or a music festival. There's no one really saying "you can't do this, or you can't do that." save for maybe our checking account.
So, why do sooo many people longingly look back to their High School days as something they want to go back to? Are they stuck in the same type of monotony?
Could they be the ones that married and had children right out of High School, instead of taking those years to enjoy themselves?
I'm happy being an adult. I think back to Randall "Pink" Floyd from Dazed and Confused when he says "If I start referring these as the best days of my life, remind me to shoot myself." Agreed, Pink. Being an awesome adult kind of kicks ass.

1 comment:

While I have nostalgic thoughts of HS - I also don't miss it. I dated a douche that cheated on me. But I had great friends, and thankfully didn't get picked on that much. I was on the dance squad, captain of it my senior year, but I always longed for more. More freedom, more of doing what I wanted to do. That's where college came in - I got to be who I wanted, and do what I wanted - so long as my grades were up to snuff my parents didn't rag on me for anything.

I agree with you, I never want to think of my teens as the best years of my life, or even my twenties - they were both pretty awesome but I think our thirties are just as awesome and only getting better. Sure once we have kids our schedule will change but I'd like to think we'll still be able to hit up the bars when we can, have our afternoons at the pizza place, get our comics and records and go to ComicCons - it's all about doing things as a family at that point.

I'm happy we waited to do so much in life, and took our time with so many things. Others might not get it but it works for us, and I wouldn't have it any other way! :)